


Shake It Up

by professor



Category: X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: Still Have Powers, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Canon Disabled Character, Gen, Meet-Cute, Pre-Slash, dadneto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-21
Updated: 2015-11-21
Packaged: 2018-05-02 18:33:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5259269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/professor/pseuds/professor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erik has spent so long at this parenting thing he no longer recognizes when someone is hitting on him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shake It Up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mikanskey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mikanskey/gifts).



Lorna insists on jumping from one patch of sunlight to the next on the path, in her quest to find the perfect rocks to bring to class next week for their unit on geology. 

Erik, armed with a paper bag and plenty of hand sanitizer, follows his wayward offspring, dutifully accepting each rock she hands him. They’ve already been at this an hour, and Erik privately thinks that she’s probably got enough rocks by now, but Lorna insists that each rock has to be “perfect”, and will often discard a rock she picked up earlier if she finds one she likes better to replace it. 

(Once, when he’d commented on Lorna’s insistence on perfection to his ex-wife, Magda had simply stared at him for a solid minute before laughing her head off at him. He still doesn’t get what’s so funny.)

After about an hour, Erik is starting to get hungry (and to be honest, kind of bored).

“Lorna, we need to head home soon,” he says. They can stop by the corner deli on the way home and pick up sandwiches. 

“No Daddy, I need more rocks,” says Lorna.

Erik sighs heavily. This is clearly going to be a long, long day. He fishes a granola bar out of his bag and eats it.

*

A couple of hours later, after Lorna finally has enough rocks, they follow the path back to the little playground that sits next to the entrance to the wooded area. It is, for a wonder, empty this time of day.

Once Lorna realizes there are no other kids around, she gasps. (It’s probably one of the cutest things Erik has ever heard.) “Daddy!” she grabs onto his leg, looking up at him, “Daddy, can I do the thing? Can I please?” she begs.

Erik pretends to mull it over, but really he was never going to say no. It’s good practice for her. 

“Yes, you can,” he says.

Lorna beams and throws her hand out toward the merry-go-round. He can feel the faint ripples of her emerging power reaching out toward the metal. It’s amazing. 

Slowly, the merry-go-round starts to spin.

“I did it, Daddy!” says Lorna proudly, looking back at him.

“You did, little magnet,” he says, his voice full of pride. He picks her up and swings her around, and she shrieks gleefully. He sets her back down and she runs over to the merry-go-round, hopping onto it and making it go faster with her powers. 

“I can do more, Daddy!” she says, and he feels her power reach out to shake the rest of the playground equipment --

And then he hears and undignified yelp behind him, and turns around to see a man in a wheelchair being shaken around.

“Lorna, stop,” shouts Erik as he reaches out with his own power, steadying the man’s chair. Lorna stops the merry-go-round, and the shaking.

Her face crumples when she turns to look back at him. Erik strides over to pick her up, and swoops her up into a hug and kisses her on the forehead. 

He sighs inwardly when he thinks about what has to come next. Erik despises apologies, even when he (or one of his offspring) are in the wrong. But he has learned to swallow his objections and his pride ever since becoming a parent.

“Lorna, you are my precious little magnet,” he tells her “but you also shook that man’s wheelchair with your powers, and that was very rude of you. We’ve talked about you using your powers like that before.”

(Part of him secretly thinks Lorna -- and he -- should be able to use her powers however she wants, but it’s a small part, leftover from his militant mutant activist days.)

“I’m sorry, Daddy,” says Lorna, sniffling.

“It’s okay,” he tells her. “But now we’re going to go over, and you need to tell him you’re sorry.”

The man is looking at them with an odd expression on his face. Erik suppresses a scowl. Yes, Lorna owes him an apology, and Erik will see that he gets it, but if this guy turns out to be some anti-mutant bigot and tries to be mean to his baby, Erik might just dump him out of his chair himself. Well, no. Not really. But he’ll think really hard about it.

But as they approach the man, he rights himself in his chair and turns to look at them, smiling. “Hello!” he says cheerfully. “My, that’s an impressive mutation you have there.”

Lorna shyly buries her face in Erik’s shoulder.

“My daughter would like to apologize to you,” says Erik, “but she’s a bit shy with strangers.” 

“No harm done,” the man says, holding his hand out for Erik to shake. “Charles Xavier.”

Erik shakes his hand, noting the man’s -- Xavier’s -- firm grip. “Lorna, what do you say to Mr. Xavier?”

Lorna mumbles something against his shoulder.

“Louder, please,” asks Erik.

“M’sorry, Mr. Xavier,” whispers Lorna, before burying her face again.

Erik ticks off an item on his mental checklist. Okay, had kid apologize. And then he realizes he has no idea what he’s supposed to do next, here. Is he obligated to make small talk? Does he have to offer his own personal apology? Is he supposed to offer to punish her (Well that’s not happening anyway, no matter what this guy might think.) Maybe he should just take Lorna home. 

Ugh, adulting is hard enough. Parenting is worse. This is why Erik likes to parent in his own home, because there’s no one around to criticize how he does it.

“Yes, so … Lorna is very sorry and she won’t do it again,” says Erik. There. That sounded parental, right? Sure it did.

“Oh, it’s quite all right,” says Xavier. “That’s a very impressive mutation she has, as I said. Some form of metallokinesis?”

Erik narrows his eyes at him. “I had her apologize, but I’m not sure I like you asking such a personal question about my young daughter.”

“Oh!” says Xavier sheepishly. “You’re right, of course. It’s my turn to apologize. It’s just, I teach at the local mutant academy, and I tend to get overly enthusiastic about the subject.”

“Claremont Academy?” Erik asks. He’s heard good things about the school, though all of his kids are too young to attend.

“That’s the one,” confirms Xavier. “I teach genetics and coach powers refinement.”

“That’s quite a combination,” says Erik.

“It is, isn’t it! But actually they go together quite nicely. Mutation is what took us from single-celled organisms to the dominant species on the planet, after all,” says Xavier. Then he laughs, and shakes his head. “And there I go again, lecturing. I’m sure you don’t care about that.”

“No, it’s interesting,” says Erik. It really is. To him, anyway. But Lorna is falling asleep against his shoulder. “But I really ought to get her home.”

“Yes, of course. But perhaps another time I could buy you some tea?” asks Xavier smiling. “Or some coffee, if you like?” 

Wait. Is this guy flirting with him? Not that Erik would mind that. (He’s definitely googling him first to make sure he’s not a creep, though.) But it’s been so long since Erik’s dated or gone to bars or clubs looking for a date that he has no idea what flirting is like anymore.

Well, it is just coffee. Public place and all that. “I suppose coffee would be acceptable,” says Erik, trying to sound cool. Or maybe he’s overdoing it? Ugh. Why is this so hard.

He and Xavier -- Charles -- trade numbers and promise to meet up in a few days.

Erik smiles the whole way home.

**Author's Note:**

> Credit goes to hackedmotionsensors for coming up with the nickname of "little magnet" for Lorna, which I shamelessly stole for this story.


End file.
